The Asia Foundation’s Wendy Soone-Broder weighs in on women’s empowerment
The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives across Asia. As the Chief Philanthropy Officer for the Foundation, Wendy Soone-Broder relishes the opportunity to make people’s dreams come true—both for donors and recipients.
“Not many organizations do the work that we do on the ground,” she says. “Asia is incredibly diverse and undergoing enormous change. What happens in Asia impacts the entire globe.”
An important aspect of The Asia Foundation’s work is to promote gender equality across all of its programs. The focus is on expanding women’s economic opportunities, increasing women’s rights and security, and advancing women’s political participation. Currently, Soone-Broder is working with the Lotus Circle, a group of individuals and activists that support the women's empowerment and gender equality programs of The Asia Foundation.
“The Lotus Circle supports programs that are often rapid response, small scale and high impact,” Soone-Broder says. “Donors are impressed with the Foundation’s depth of knowledge, deep relationships on the ground and grasp of the complex political economy.”
As allies in the fight for gender equality, The Asia Foundation and the Lotus Circle are hosting the Lotus Leadership Awards Gala April 6 at the Mandarin Oriental New York. The event will honor Reshma Saujani for working to close the gender gap in STEM for women and girls, G-Star RAW Denim Foundation for advancing women’s entrepreneurship and economic empowerment, and Kampuchea Action to Promote Education for strengthening girls’ education and leadership in Cambodia. Tickets available at asiafoundation.org/lotusawards.
Photo Courtesy of Christophe Testi, Creative Shot Photography
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